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How To Improve Child Concentration Naturally

Every parent has seen this problem. You make your child sit with a book. You close the door. You tell him to study. After five minutes you come back and the book is still on the same page. The child is looking at the wall. Or playing with a small piece of paper. Or just staring at the ceiling. You feel angry. You feel worried. You think maybe your child is not smart enough. Stop thinking like that. Your child is perfectly fine. The problem is not your child. The problem is that no one taught your child how to focus. Focus is a skill. Just like riding a bicycle or writing the alphabet. And you can teach this skill without any medicine or expensive class. I have worked with many families in India. I have seen children go from not sitting for five minutes to finishing full homework in one sitting. The change happened because parents changed small daily things. Not big things. Small things. Let me tell how to improve child concentration naturally. Unlocking Your Child's Focus: Natural Strategies for Success Look at What Your Child Eats Food changes everything. If you give your child a lot of biscuits, bread, packed noodles, or sweet drinks, the child will never sit still. These foods make the brain jumpy. The child feels restless. The child wants to move around all the time. Do this instead. Give one boiled egg in the morning. Or give a small bowl of sprouts. Or give a roti with ghee. These foods do not make the brain jumpy. These foods give steady energy. Many parents tell me my child does not eat healthy food. I tell them start small. Do not change everything in one day. First remove the worst thing. That is packed juice and sweet drinks. Replace with water or fresh nimbu paani without too much sugar. After one week, remove one more bad food. After one month, you will see your child sitting more calmly. It is not magic. It is food. Read Also: Parenting Hacks For Busy Parents At Home Fix the Sleep First I cannot tell you how many parents come to me with focus problems. The first thing I ask is how much does your child sleep. Most parents say seven hours or eight hours. That is not enough for a child. A child needs nine to ten hours of sleep. When a child does not sleep enough, the brain stays tired. A tired brain cannot focus. The child will sit with the book but the brain will not take anything inside. The child will keep reading the same line again and again. That is not the child fault. That is the tired brain. Put your child to bed at the same time every night. Do not change on weekends. Do not give mobile or TV in the bedroom. Keep the room dark and quiet. If there is noise from outside, use a fan or keep windows closed. Do this for three weeks. After three weeks, your child will wake up fresh. A fresh brain focuses... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/

Foods To Avoid During Early Pregnancy Weeks

You just found out you are pregnant. You feel happy. You also feel worried. You want to do everything right. The food you eat is the first thing to fix. This is not hard to understand. You just need a list. You need to know what hurts the baby. You need to know what is safe. I will tell you exactly that. No extra words. No fancy talk. The First Weeks Are When The Baby Builds Everything Think of the first twelve weeks as building time. Your baby makes a brain. Makes a heart. Makes a spine. Makes arms and legs. All of this happens when you might not even show a belly yet. Your body also changes. Your immune system gets weak on purpose. That weak spot lets the baby stay inside you without your body fighting it. But that weak spot also lets food germs hurt you more. So you must be picky about food. More picky than ever before. Cold sliced meat from the deli You go to the store. You buy sliced turkey for sandwiches. That meat is cold. It sat in a case. Many hands touched it. The slicer machine might have old bits of meat stuck on it. That cold meat can carry a germ. That germ is bad for pregnant women. The germ can go from your stomach to your baby. That can make you lose the baby. Do this instead: Heat the sliced meat until you see steam. Eat it hot. Do not let it get cold again. Read Also: Healthy Snacks For Pregnant Women With Gestational Diabetes Raw fish Raw fish means sushi. Sashimi. Raw oysters. Raw clams. Any fish that never saw heat. Raw fish has germs and tiny worms. Your weak body cannot kill them like before. Those tiny worms live in your gut. They take your food. Your baby gets less food. Also some raw fish has a metal called mercury. Mercury hurts the baby brain. The baby brain grows the most in the first weeks. Do this instead: Cook your fish. Cook it until it flakes with a fork. No pink inside. Soft cheese Cheese comes in hard and soft. Hard cheese is safe. Soft cheese is not safe for pregnant women. Soft cheese names are brie, camembert, blue cheese, gouda if it is soft, feta, queso blanco. These cheeses have more water. Germs grow in water. Most soft cheese uses milk that did not get hot enough to kill germs. One bite can have enough germs to make you very sick. Do this instead: Eat cheddar. Eat swiss. Eat parmesan. Eat cream cheese. foods to avoid during early pregnancy weeks. Runny eggs A runny egg has yellow liquid that moves when you cut it. That is not safe during pregnancy. Raw egg can carry a germ called salmonella. That germ gives you bad runs and bad throw up. You lose water. Your baby needs that water. You also get a fever. Fever in early pregnancy can change how the baby grows. Do this instead: Cook eggs until the yellow part is... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/

Home Remedies For Morning Sickness In Pregnancy

Morning sickness. Just hearing these two words makes many pregnant women feel tired. Because they know what comes next. The nausea. The vomiting. The weakness. I have seen this in my own family. My sister had it very bad. My best friend had it for four months straight. So I am not writing this from a book. I am writing this from watching real women go through real days of sickness. You are pregnant. That is a beautiful thing. But the first few months can feel very ugly. You feel sick when you wake up. You feel sick after eating. You feel sick when you smell food. Sometimes you feel sick for no reason at all. So what can you do at home? Many things. Let me tell you one by one. But I will not write like a doctor. I will write like a woman talking to another home remedies for morning sickness in pregnancy. Eat Something Dry Before Moving Your Body In The Morning This is the most important thing. Keep a small packet of plain biscuits near your bed. Not cream biscuits. Not chocolate biscuits. Plain ones. Salt crackers are good too. When you open your eyes in the morning do not get up. Do not even sit up fast. Just turn your head to the side. Take one biscuit. Eat it slowly. Take another one. Eat it. Stay in that lying position for two three minutes. Then sit up slowly. Why this works I cannot explain in big words. But your stomach becomes empty after sleeping the whole night. That empty feeling makes you sick. Giving your stomach something small and dry settles it down. My cousin did this every single day for her first three months. She said without this she could not even stand. Do not drink plain water when nausea is high This sounds strange because everyone says drink water. But many women tell me plain water makes them throw up. Something about the taste. Something about the weight of water in the stomach. So what to drink instead? Lemon water. Take a glass of cold water. Squeeze half lemon into it. Add a pinch of salt. Add one small spoon of sugar. Stir it. Drink very small sips. Coconut water is also very good. It is natural. It gives you energy. It does not have a strong smell. Buttermilk without too much salt also works. Just thin buttermilk. Not the spicy one. Do not drink anything very cold. Not ice cold. That shocks your stomach. Cool is fine. Ice is not fine. Read Also: Healthy Snacks For Pregnant Women With Gestational Diabetes Ginger is good but do not go overboard Everyone talks about ginger. It is true. Ginger helps nausea. But in pregnancy you cannot eat too much ginger. Too much can cause heat in your body. Some doctors say too much ginger is not safe. So do this. Take one small piece of fresh ginger. Not big. Small. Wash it. Cut it into very thin pieces. Put those pieces in one cup of water. Boil the water. Let it... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/

Healthy Snacks For Pregnant Women With Gestational Diabetes

Pregnant women with gestational diabetes need safe snacks. A good snack has protein and fiber together. Eat roasted chana with cucumber. Eat one boiled egg. Eat half bowl plain yogurt with jeera. Eat two small paneer cubes with capsicum strips. Eat one small apple with two walnuts. Never eat fruit alone. Never eat packaged juice or sugar free biscuits. Eat every two to three hours. Always eat a small snack before sleep. Drink water many times. These snacks keep your blood sugar stable. Your baby stays healthy. You stay healthy too. Why I Had To Change My Snacking? Before pregnancy I ate anything. Samosa. Chai. Biscuits. But after diagnosis my sugar used to jump like anything. One time I ate a small pack of glucose biscuits. My sugar went to 190. I got scared. Then my dietician explained one thing. She said your body cannot handle sugar alone. You need to add something with it. That something is protein or fat. So I started testing. I bought a small glucometer. I pricked my finger many times. Slowly I found safe snacks. I am sharing that healthy snacks for pregnant women with gestational diabetes. Read Also: Guide to Understanding Your Pregnancy Weight Gain Chart What I keep in my bag all the time? I carry a small box everywhere. In that box I keep four things. Roasted chana. Few almonds. One small cucumber. One spoon of flaxseed powder. These things never go bad. They dont need fridge. If I feel hungry outside I eat from this box. This habit saved me many times. Snack number one that never fails me Take one small katori of curd. Not the sweet one. Not the one that comes in small plastic cups. Take homemade curd or buy plain greek curd. Add one spoon of roasted jeera powder. Add a little salt. Eat it with one small cucumber cut into pieces. This snack fills my stomach for three hours. My sugar stays between 100 to 120 after this. I tested it five times. Same result every time. My evening snack that feels like cheating I love chat. But most chat has sweet chutney and sev and potato. All bad for sugar. So I made my own version. Take one small bowl of sprouts. Add chopped onion. Add chopped tomato. Add green chilli if you want. Add lemon juice. Add black salt. Mix well. Do not add imli chutney. Do not add sev. Eat it as is. It tastes fresh and tangy. My husband ate it once and he said it is good. So it is not boring. The one snack I eat before sleeping This is very important. I learned this after many high readings in the morning. My morning sugar used to be 130 even after eating good dinner. I asked my doctor. She said you are not eating bed time snack. I said what. She said yes. Eat something small before sleeping. Now I eat half cup of plain yogurt or one boiled egg at 10 pm. My morning sugar dropped to 100 in three days.... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/

Newborn Baby Sleep Tips For First Time Moms

You just had a baby. You are happy. You are also very very tired. Your eyes burn. Your body hurts. You love that small baby but you need sleep. One hour of sleep. Two hours of sleep. Just a little sleep. I remember those days. You sit in a dark room at 3 am. The baby cries. You cry too. You do not know what to do next. Everyone tells you things but no one tells you simple things. Real things that work for a real mom at home. This article gives you newborn baby sleep tips for first time moms. No hard words. No doctor talk. Just help. Navigating Newborn Sleep: Essential Tips for Moms Many first time moms think their baby is broken because the baby does not sleep all night. Let me tell you right now. Your baby is not broken. A newborn baby has a tiny stomach. That stomach holds only a little milk. Two hours later the stomach is empty. The baby feels hungry. The baby wakes up. That is not a problem. That is how a baby lives. Your baby also does not know day from night. To your baby, 2 pm and 2 am feel the same. The baby does not see a clock. The baby only feels hungry or full, tired or awake, hot or cold. When you know this, you stop fighting your baby. You stop thinking you did something wrong. You did nothing wrong. Your baby acts like a baby. Read Also: How To Stop Baby Hiccups After Feeding Safe Sleep First Before any tip about sleep, you must know safe sleep. This keeps your baby alive. Put your baby on the back to sleep. Every time. Day and night. Back only. Not tummy. Not side. Use a firm mattress. A crib mattress is good. A bassinet mattress is good. Do not use a soft bed. Do not use a couch. Do not let the baby sleep in a car seat or swing for long sleeps. Keep the crib empty. No blanket. No pillow. No bumpers. No stuffed toy. Just the baby and a fitted sheet. Some moms think the baby looks cold. They want to add a blanket. Do not do this. Use a sleep sack or swaddle instead. A loose blanket can cover the baby face. That is not safe. Watch The Baby Not The Clock Forget the clock for the first few weeks. The clock will make you angry. The clock will make you feel like you fail. Instead watch your baby. Your baby shows you when sleep time is coming. You just have to see the signs. The baby pulls the ear. The baby rubs the eyes. The baby makes small fussy sounds. The baby looks away from you. The baby gets stiff arms and legs. These are tired signs. When you see these signs, act fast. Do not wait. Do not start a new game. Do not change the baby clothes for fun. Just start helping the baby sleep. If you wait too long, the baby gets overtired. An overtired... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/

Guide to Understanding Your Pregnancy Weight Gain Chart

Every pregnant woman thinks about her weight. It is normal. You see the scale move up. You feel happy and scared at the same time. Your mother tells you to eat more. Your friend tells you to eat less. Then the doctor shows you a paper. That paper has a pregnancy weight gain chart. You look at it. You do not understand it fully. This article will help you. I will explain every part of that chart. No hard words. No doctor talk. Just plain talk. Why Your Weight Changes During Pregnancy? Your body is doing big work. A small baby is growing inside you. That baby needs space. That baby needs food. Your body makes more blood. Your body makes water around the baby. Your breasts get ready to feed the baby. All of this has weight. So when you see more numbers on the scale, do not get scared. That is not your body becoming fat. That is your baby's home getting ready. If you do not gain enough weight, the baby may come out too small. A small baby has trouble drinking milk. A small baby gets sick fast. If you gain too much weight, you may get high blood pressure. You may get sugar problems. Both of these are bad for you and your baby. So you need to stay in the middle. That is why the doctor uses a pregnancy weight gain chart. Read Also: Sleeping Positions During Pregnancy By Trimester What This Chart Shows You? The chart is a simple picture. It has weeks on one side. It has kilos on the other side. You find your week number. You see how much weight you should have put on by that week. Then you check your own weight. If you are near that number, you are fine. If you are far above or far below, you need to change something. The chart is not the same for every woman. It looks at your body before pregnancy. A thin woman needs more weight gain. A heavy woman needs less weight gain. Your doctor will tell you which group you fall in. Weight Gain Based on Your Body Before Pregnancy Before you became pregnant, you had a certain body size. That decides your chart. If you were very thin before pregnancy, you should gain 12 to 18 kilos in total. If you had a normal body before pregnancy, you should gain 11 to 15 kilos in total. If you were heavy before pregnancy, you should gain 7 to 11 kilos in total. If you were very heavy before pregnancy, you should gain 5 to 9 kilos in total. These numbers are for the full nine months. Not per week. Not per month. The total from first month to last month. Month by Month Breakdown Now let me break the nine months into three parts. Each part is called a trimester. First Trimester – First Three Months In the first three months, many women feel sick in the morning. They cannot look at food. Some women lose weight. Do not worry. In this time, you only... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/

Best Immunity Boosting Foods For Toddlers

You feel very bad when your small child keeps falling sick. One week cold is gone and next week cough starts again. You take the child to the doctor again and again. You give all medicines on time. Still the child does not stay well for more than ten days at a stretch. You start thinking maybe something is wrong with your child. But most of the time nothing is wrong. The child just needs daily help for the body's own defence system. That defence system is called immunity. A toddler does not have a fully grown defence system like an adult. It is still learning. It is still building. And the only way to build it properly is through everyday food. Not through syrups. Not through powders. Not through outside health drinks. Just simple food that you already make in your kitchen. I have written this article for mothers and fathers in India. I have not used any hard words. I have not given any false hope. I have only shared those food ideas that real families have used for many years. You do not need to buy anything new. You do not need to follow any foreign diet. You just need to know which food to give and best immunity boosting foods for toddlers. Let me explain everything from the beginning. Why Toddlers Need Special Food For This Purpose? A toddler is not a small grown up person. Their stomach is very small. Their body cannot digest heavy food. Their defence cells are made new every single day inside the bone and blood. If the child does not get the right building material from food, then the body cannot make strong defence cells. That is why the child falls sick even from a small germ that does not affect older children. Another thing is that toddlers touch everything. They put dirty toys in the mouth. They play on the floor. They forget to wash hands after coming from outside. So the body has to fight many germs every single day. Without good daily food the defence system gets tired and stops working well. Do not wait for the child to get sick. Do not start giving good food only after the fever comes. That is like locking the door after the thief has already entered. Start giving the right food from today. Every day. In small amounts. Without forcing the child. Read Also: 7 Warning Signs Of Dengue Fever In Child Ten Foods That Help The Defence System Below I have written about ten foods. For each food I have explained why it helps and how to give it to your child. Read slowly and do not try to do everything on the first day. Turmeric Turmeric is that yellow powder which you put in every dal and every vegetable. It is not just a colouring thing. It actually helps the body clean the blood. It also helps kill small germs before they can grow inside. And it reduces swelling inside the body. Many child sicknesses start because of some swelling... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/

How To Discipline A Child Without Yelling Or Hitting

Parenting is hard work. Every mother and father wants their child to grow up as a good person. But children do mistakes. That is how they learn. The problem is not the child's mistake. The problem is how parents react to that mistake. Many parents start shouting. Some parents raise their hand. Later that night, when the child is sleeping, the parent feels very bad. The parent thinks to himself – why did I do that? Why could I not stay quiet? This feeling is very common. But you can change this. You can teach your child good behaviour without any shouting. You can set limits without any hitting. This article shows you the exact way to do that. These are not fancy ideas. These are steps that regular parents use every day in their homes and how to discipline a child without yelling or hitting. Let me tell you clearly. Changing your old habit will take time. You will make mistakes. That is okay. You just need to keep trying. Why Your Old Way is Not Working? Think about the last time you shouted at your child. Did he stop doing that thing forever? No. He stopped for five minutes. Then he did the same thing again. Why? Because shouting does not teach anything. When you shout, the child's brain gets scared. He cannot hear your words. He only hears loud noise. His mind closes like a door. So your long lecture is wasted. He did not learn why his action was wrong. When you hit, the child feels pain and shame. He starts thinking – I am a bad child. Over many years, this feeling stays inside him. Some children start hitting other children. Some children start lying to save themselves from hitting. Some children grow up and then hit their own children. Is this what you want? No. You want a child who listens because he understands. You want a child who respects you, not fears you. That is possible. But for that, you have to leave the old way. Read Also: Parenting Hacks For Busy Parents At Home What Good Discipline Looks Like? Good discipline is teaching. Bad discipline is punishing. When you teach, you show the child the right path. When you punish, you only make the child feel bad about himself. In good discipline, the parent does not lose temper. The parent stays like a strong tree in the wind. The parent sets two or three clear rules. When the child breaks a rule, there is a fixed result. That result is not beating. That result is not shouting. That result is something like – no mobile for one hour, or cleaning the mess he made, or sitting quietly for two minutes. The goal is not to make the child cry. The goal is to make the child think – oh, this happened because of my action. Next time I will do different. Step One – Stop Yourself First This is the most difficult step. Your child spills water on the floor. Your first feeling is heat in your head.... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/

Sleeping Positions During Pregnancy By Trimester

Pregnancy is a beautiful time. But it also brings many small and big problems. One of the biggest problems is sleep. You feel tired. You want to rest. But every time you lie down, something feels wrong. Your stomach is growing. Your back hurts. Your legs feel heavy. You cannot find a good position. You wake up many times at night. This is very common. Almost every sleeping positions during pregnancy by trimester. The good news is that you can sleep better. You just need to know the right position for your stage of pregnancy. Your body changes every three months. This time period is called a trimester. Each trimester needs a different sleeping position. In this article, we will tell you exactly how to sleep in first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester. We will also tell you which positions are dangerous. We will give you simple tips that work for Indian homes. No costly gadgets. No hospital terms. Just real advice. Let us start. Why Sleeping Position Matters During Pregnancy? Before we talk about trimesters, you need to understand one thing. The way you sleep does not just affect your comfort. It affects your baby’s blood flow. Inside your stomach, there is a big blood pipe. Doctors call it vena cava. But you do not need to remember that name. Just know this. When you lie flat on your back, your heavy baby presses on this blood pipe. This slows down the blood going to your baby. This can cause problems. Also, wrong sleeping positions can give you back pain. They can make you breathless. They can cause acidity. They can make your legs swell. So sleeping position is not a small thing. It is a safety thing. Now let us look at each trimester one by one. Read Also: Can A Pregnant Woman Travel In Flight In 1 Trimester First Trimester – Weeks 1 to 13 What is happening in your body In the first three months, your baby is very small. Your stomach has not grown much. You may feel nausea. You may feel very tired. But your body shape is mostly the same. Best sleeping position You can sleep in any position you like. Yes. Any position. You can sleep on your back. You can sleep on your stomach. You can sleep on your left side. You can sleep on your right side. It does not matter. Why? Because your baby is still very tiny. There is no weight pressing on any blood pipe. So you are safe. What you should do in first trimester Even though you have freedom, this is the right time to start a good habit. Try to sleep on your left side for some part of the night. This will make your later months easier. Use normal pillows. Keep one pillow under your head. Keep one pillow between your knees if you like. Common problem in first trimester Many women feel very sleepy in the day. But at night, they cannot sleep. This is normal. Do not worry. Just rest when you can. Simple tip for first trimester Do not eat heavy food just before sleeping.... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/

Can A Pregnant Woman Travel In Flight In 1 Trimester

Yes, a pregnant woman can travel in flight in her first trimester. Most doctors say it is safe. But there are some very important things to know before you book your ticket. The first three months of pregnancy are delicate. You may feel tired, sick in the morning, or dizzy. Flying will not hurt your baby directly. But the way you feel during the flight can be hard. This article will tell you everything you need to know. No hard words. No hidden medical talk. Can A Pregnant Woman Travel In Flight In 1 Trimester? What Happens in First Trimester of Pregnancy? Before we talk about flying, let us understand the first trimester. This is week one to week twelve of your pregnancy. In this time, your baby is growing very fast. Small organs are forming. Your body is also changing. You may have these common problems: Feeling very tired Morning sickness (nausea) Breast pain Frequent need to pee Mood changes Feeling dizzy or weak Every woman is different. Some women feel almost nothing. Some women feel very sick. This matters because flying can make some of these feelings stronger. Read Also: Pregnancy Symptoms In First Month Before Missed Period Is Flying in First Trimester Safe for Baby? Many pregnant women worry about the baby. Let me give you a clear answer. The flight itself does not harm the baby. The baby is very small in first trimester. It sits deep inside your pelvis. The cabin pressure in a plane is safe for pregnancy. There is no proof that flying causes miscarriage. But here is the truth. Most miscarriages happen in first trimester. This is not because of flying. It happens because of genetic problems in the baby. Nature decides. So if a woman flies and then loses the baby, she may think the flight was the reason. Mostly, it is not. Doctors say radiation is also not a big worry. You get very little radiation during one flight. Even many flights in first trimester are fine. But if you are a flight attendant or pilot, then you need to talk to your doctor. For normal travel, it is safe. When a Pregnant Woman Should Not Fly in First Trimester? Even though flying is generally safe, there are some cases where you should not fly. Please read carefully. If any of these apply to you, talk to your doctor before booking a ticket. You have bleeding or spotting – If you see blood, do not fly. Rest at home. Call your doctor. You had miscarriage before – If you had two or more miscarriages before, your doctor may tell you to avoid travel in first trimester. You have high risk pregnancy – Some women have problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, or issues with the womb. Flying may add stress. You feel very sick all the time – If you cannot keep water or food down, an airport and flight will be very hard for you. Doctor clearly said no – Some doctors give strict bed rest. Then you cannot travel. Listen to your doctor. What Airline Rules Say in India and International? Every airline has its own rule... This article was originally published on https://www.ababyhandbook.com/